Tier 1 Market with No Connections or Small City with Contacts?
Hey all!
Have an interesting scenario that I'd like to run by the group here.
I start my MBA this fall at a T20 in the SE known for its RE Dev connections. I have been fortunate enough to land a full ride. I have no prior real estate experience, and I want to be a developer.
Given the current market conditions, I realize that, especially given the lack of FT RE experience, I'm not going to have the luxury of being picky. However.....
I'm looking to gauge thoughts on the tradeoffs/opportunity differences - both short and long term - of a large major metro market (NYC, DC, etc) vs smaller more regional cities. Let me explain.
I grew up near a small midwestern regional city (think Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland). I have very close family friends that are extremely connected in said regional city. They serve as an LP across a massive array of projects in the city, have close contacts with the city government, know the leaders of all the major dev players, and are even minority owners in 2 of the city's professional sports teams (NFL, MLB, etc). I grew up going on vacation with them and talk to them frequently - they're my mentors so to speak. They've informed me in no uncertain terms that when the time comes, they will make intros for me in this city.
In diving in to what is publicly available for comp for dev associates in the regional city, I very well may start out around 95-105k- especially considering my lack of dev experience. My program, however, would afford me potential oppties with large institutional developers (Hines, TCC, TCR, etc) in larger markets that would have a larger deal flow and better comp.
I gave lots of context, but the question is simple: would you rather gun for top institutional jobs in large markets where you know no one, OR gun for family offices in a smaller regional city in which you have great existing contacts? Which would afford me greater long term growth opportunities in general?
It's worth mentioning that I have friends and would be closer to family in this smaller regional city, and would be starting fresh in the DCs, NYCs, ATLs, etc. I appreciate the insights sincerely - and happy Friday!
Edit: I should add that the smaller regional city would not allow me to take full advantage of my MBA network that I hope to build.
I am really not aware of any alumni of my program in this smaller regional city.
Are you me? Congrats on UNC by the way. ;)
The first thing you need to ask yourself is: where do you actually want to live? If you know the answer, your goal is to get the best job you can in that location. Full stop. If you have always wanted to live in LA or Denver or wherever, do that. If you don’t know the answer (I certainly never would have guessed I would end up where I am) or you don’t care, that’s cool too. It’s just important to ask.
The second thing to consider is that most large, institutional, name-brand developers have branches everywhere, so the decision doesn’t necessarily have to be a name brand firm in a gateway city vs. a family office back home. There’s a decent chance your city has a Hines, a TCC, a Greystar, etc. which would give you the benefits of your network AND build your resume.
But let’s say it doesn’t. My advice for you is that you can always go home, but your chances to move to a new location get more difficult at every level. Right out of grad school is easy, because you’re almost expected to move, and you have that built in internship summer to “gain local experience,” but once you hit the VP/Director/MD level part of your value as a professional is your network. It gets much more difficult to relocate. But if you have that network in your home city already, you have that baked in. You can go work somewhere big for a few years, get your experience and name brand on your resume, and then bring that experience back home.
If I had a dollar for every well-connected person I knew who did a couple years in NYC, SF, or LA and then came on back home to Pittsburgh, or Charlotte, or Nashville…
Thanks for helping me to not view this as so much on a binary. That's one of my fatal flaws. Life happens somewhere in the middle.
Looks like from a brand name institutional perspective .. no dice on a "blue chip" nationally known player. However, there's a local equivalent, that looks to have a massive presence, and large project suite that cuts across health care, multifamily, office, and event space. This is actually the firm that I was offered intros at and was strongly encouraged to explore during my last conversation with my contacts.
I think it's probably worth pursuing for me, even if only from an exploratory perspective. God I hate the weather up there though. Lol
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